To send a print job to a printer from a mobile terminal running the operating system iOS (iPhone™ Operating System) has some limitations compared to fixed devices such as PCs or other mobile terminals such as laptops. Only printers using the protocol (interface software) AirPrint™ can be addressed. The printers are found via the protocol Bonjour™. These printers must be accessible via a wireless local area network (WLAN) and have a network address in the same segment as the mobile terminal. The printer must therefore be located in the vicinity of the mobile terminal from which the print job is started. The access rights to the printers are not uniformly regulated, so that each manufacturer is free to use and design a user administration. This printing solution for iOS-based mobile terminals is therefore only feasible in small environments, i.e. with typically a few to several tens of users and a few printers in a limited space. This concept places considerable demands on the management of printers and mobile terminals in larger environments where not every user should have access to every printer, because each new mobile terminal must be made known to every printer to which print jobs can be sent from mobile terminals. For this reason, in practice, the printers allow by default every mobile terminal to print. In this environment, it makes sense to install a server which runs the AirPrint™ protocol, receives the print job and forwards the print job to the appropriate printer. This would remove the restrictions on the accessibility of the printer. Rights management with this system is still cumbersome. Both methods, direct printing with AirPrint™ or indirectly via an AirPrint™ server, have some drawbacks that are overcome by the present invention:
Printing rights can typically be granted only to a device, but not to a user.
Printing rights for a mobile terminal can be set up only at the printer itself.
It depends on the printer whether and to what extent printing rights can be awarded to a device or to a user. A comprehensive management for all users and devices is only possible when all printers enable user and device management.
The necessary administrative work must be done on the device itself, because the user interface is not standardized. At best, a rudimentary configuration server is installed on the printer, allowing the administrator to access the printer over the network. However, this does not solve the problem associated with the different user interfaces of different printers.
When no printing rights are awarded, each terminal is authorized to send print jobs to this printer. Or a printer does not accept a print job, which depends on the default setting of the printer.
The user has no control over his rights and the available devices. The AirPrint™ protocol offers him all available printers; however, the user learns only after starting the print job whether he is authorized to use the printer.
A typical scenario in an AirPrint™ environment looks like this:
1. The administrator has defined access rights on the printers.
2. The user selects the print function on his iOS device.
3. The device offers him to all printers that have been offered via the AirPrint™ protocol.
4. The user selects a printer.
5. The print job is sent to the printer.
6. If the printer accepts the job, printing begins. Otherwise, an error message is outputted and the user must repeat step 4.
7. Search for the printer to collect the print job.